Lin, Chen capture championship at badminton tourney

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA , BERLIN

Wed, Apr 01, 2009 - Page 20

Taiwanese badminton players Lin Yu-lang and Chen Hung-ling captured the men’s doubles championship at the 33rd Yonex Polish Open in Warsaw on Sunday by beating a pair of Danes in a tightly contested final.

Lin and Chen topped Kasper Faust Henriksen and Christian John Skovgaard 21-14, 17-21, 21-19 to take the title after playing their first four matches without losing a set.

A total of 176 players from 26 countries took part in the tournament, which ran from last Thursday to Sunday.

Lin and Chen upset the top-seeded Polish duo Michal Logosz and Robert Mateusiak 21-16, 21-16, in the tournament’s second round and upended Belgian fourth-seeds Wouter Claes and Frederic Mawet 21-14, 21-5 in the semi-finals on Saturday to set the stage for their dramatic victory in Sunday’s final.

The next goal for the pair is to perform well at the Asian Badminton Championship to be held in South Korea early next month.

A dozen Taiwanese expatriates in Poland turned up to cheer on the Lin-Chen team on Sunday. Liu Yi-min, Taiwan’s representative in Warsaw, hosted a dinner in honor of the Taiwanese players who took part in the tournament.